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Parents call for transparency after armed man arrested at Stoneham school
Parents say they weren't notified until five days after the incident, where a man suffering a mental health crisis was arrested with knives near South Elementary School.
A man suffering a mental health crisis was arrested with knives on school grounds in Stoneham last week, police said, and local parents are demanding to know why it took so long for officials to inform them of the incident.
Police responded to South Elementary School on Summer Street on March 21 and within minutes located the man, they said in a statement. He was arrested without incident.
Court records identified the man as James McCarty. Police said they were familiar with him and knew of his mental health issues.
Police said McCarty was carrying a green folding knife and a hunting knife, and police found an additional knife nearby. Once in custody, McCarty was allegedly repeating “you will find out” when asked what he was doing near South Elementary School.
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Police also found out that McCarty has been monitored by federal investigators for sending threatening emails to businesses, court documents show. He was transferred to a hospital.
McCarty is facing multiple charges in connection to the incident including for carrying a dangerous weapon on school grounds, hijacking threats, and disorderly conduct.
Parents call for transparency
Parents packed a Stoneham School Committee meeting to admonish the school leaders for their lack of transparency. NBC reported that a communication was sent to parents about the incident on March 26, five days after McCarty was arrested.
“I am sorry,” Stoneham Superintendent David Ljungberg said Thursday night. “I apologize for not having handled this situation differently and to the expectation of what this community expects and deserves.”
Multiple parents said the school committee failed the students, while some said they should resign.
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“You don’t respond to emails, you don’t communicate upfront when it needs to happen. You just wait until everything goes crazy,” Katrina Bridges told school committee members. “You effectively are waiting for the news to come out to tell us what we need to know when it should be coming from all of you up here.”
Ed Rosa, a retired educator, said he worked 20 years as a principal and could not imagine not notifying parents about such an incident.
“When people make mistakes and say I’m sorry, they think that erases everything, and it doesn’t, so I hope the seriousness of what didn’t occur will not go away after tonight’s meeting, and that it will be addressed,” Rosa said.
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